


Cold Floors and Warm Hearts

by ashkazora



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Spooning, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, It is now, M/M, Sleepwalking, Sleepy Cuddles, canonverse, for shanceholidayexchange2019, is that thing?, there's like no angst, two bros chilling in a bed no feet apart because they're gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21927811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashkazora/pseuds/ashkazora
Summary: ”You tell me!”Lance let go of the blanket to gesture wildly with his hands, exposing his completely bare body sans a pair of blue lion boxers. If he wasn’t already blushing, Shiro sure as hell was now. Trying to preserve Lance’s modesty as much as possible, Shiro averted his gaze to anywhere that wasn’t below the blue paladin’s collarbone.“Look-“ Shiro said as he attempted to stand up, yet was pulled down by the blanket still wrapped around his legs “-I have no idea how or why I’m here. In your bed. With you.”-Or: three times Shiro accidentally wakes up in Lance's room(Written for the 2019 Shance Holiday Exchange)
Relationships: Lance & Shiro (Voltron), Lance/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 169





	Cold Floors and Warm Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Shockingly-illogical on Tumblr for the Shance 2019 Holiday Exchange!
> 
> Beta'd by Grammar.ly so please tell me if I've missed anything!
> 
> I’m normally a more angst-ish writer and this is like my first attempt ever at pure fluff minimal angst. Originally, my first draft was gonna be soooooo drama and angst-based but I decided that my boys needed a break. So here we are. 
> 
> The prompts I was given were fantasy au or protecting each other (canonish setting) or fluffy hugs or cuddles. I chose the latter of the three and I was this close to writing the second prompt in but again, my boys deserve a break.
> 
> This doesn't have a set time where it takes place, though it's inferred everything happens before s3. But really, you can imagine it whenever you want.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Leave a kudos or comment if you like it, and remember to check me out on Tumblr at @ashkazora!
> 
> edit 16.6.20: fixed some tense issues

It all started like this:

Shiro woke up groggily, stiffly rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. All of his muscles ache with yesterdays exhaustion and his ears faintly buzzed from the remnants of sleep. 

To put it lightly, the previous day’s training session was _tough,_ not just on the team but on himself as well. It still took time for everyone to work as a cohesive unit; Pidge, Hunk and Lance would normally stick together, Keith eventually breaking formation to pull a reckless stunt and Lance quickly following behind in an attempt to keep up with the red paladin. Shiro has the arduous task of moulding the four other individuals and himself into one, like-minded team, which more often than not left himself open to the gladiator’s staffs. 

To make things even worse even with the fragmented team, Shiro got a solid three hours of sleep the night before. Kept up by memories of his time in the arena, the black paladin’s movements were affected by his own sleep deprivation. All of that accumulated into him getting knocked onto his ass. 

Many, many times. 

So after the not-so-good training session, Shiro made a fast beeline to his room and decided to at least _try_ to get an eight-hour sleep. To his immense surprise after waking up, he seemed to actually have slept through the night. No nightmares, no dreams. Nothing but the restful slumber he’d seldom seen since departing from Kerberos. For the first time in a while, the black paladin woke up feeling well-rested and energised. Yet for some reason, something felt… _off_.

Looking around the room as his vision adjusted to the darkness, Shiro noticed at first that he was on the floor. And then he noticed the clutter around the floor and the storage posters on the walls that he swore were never there. His room was always to immaculate, so orderly. From the inky-black silhouettes, he could decipher from the darkness, this room was a _mess._ And then the penny dropped for Shiro _._

Hurriedly rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Shiro looked to the bed and had to blink once or twice to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. There, lying nestled in a cocoon of blankets, pillows and assorted stuffed plushies, was the unmistakable figure of Lance.

_This was_ not _his room._

How did he even get here? He’d never been known to sleepwalk, let alone go into another paladin’s personal space. And more importantly, why _Lance?_ Why his room? This… was not good. 

Even though he’d gotten an uninterrupted sleep for the first time in a very long time, Shiro had unknowingly invaded Lance’s privacy and safe space. As the boy’s superior and commanding officer, the thought of breaching his personal space was very much cringeworthy.

_But he’s your friend!_ a small voice in his mind called out, _he wouldn’t care!_

Shiro wanted to believe that, yet he’d never really took the time to know the blue paladin well enough to draw a conclusive answer. 

Inhaling softly, Shiro started carefully walking out of the room, slow and cautious enough to avoid the various things littered on the ground. With one final glance at the sleeping boy, Shiro crept through the door and back to his own room. Hopefully, this would be a one-time thing, never to happen again. Hell, he just hoped Lance didn’t notice he had collapsed in his room. 

That morning, Lance gave no indication that he knew of a certain paladin sleeping in his room. Up to his usual humorous antics and silly flirting with whoever was closest to him, Shiro felt himself sigh in relief at his ignorance. Yet as he turned to leave for the training room, he missed the emotion-clad stare emitting from a certain blue paladin. 

-

The second, even more, embarrassing time, happened like this:

Not on a mission nor a vacation, all five paladins were sent at Allura’s request to the nearest swap-moon to gather supplies for Pidge, Hunk, and Coran’s newest tinkering. The occupants on the Castle of Lions all came to a unanimous decision to try and install cloaking on all of the lions, not just Green. Thus began the scramble to find and haggle down millions of GAC worth of machinery, spare parts, and paint (for the aesthetic).

Hunk and Pidge immediately ran off, getting who-knows-what at the grungiest, most dodgy stores Shiro had ever seen. To be completely candid, Shiro had no idea what those two did half the time; he was a pilot, not a genius like them. Their endless rambling about technology completely flew over his head - pun intended.

Like the green and yellow paladins, Keith also took off the moment they set foot in the swap-moon, muttering something about socks under his breath. A couple weeks ago, Shiro politely told to him over the dinner table that perhaps a change of clothes would be a good idea. God knows how many times Keith had changed outfits in his year in the desert (Shiro _still_ felt guilty for that). It seemed that everyone but the red paladin saw how frayed his jacket and shirt had become. 

And so Shiro was left with the only paladin that didn’t immediately run off: Lance.

_Great._

He wasn’t avoiding Lance, per se, but the memories of the first… _incident_ still played back in his mind. Feeling nothing but awkward, Shiro had been skirting around the boy ever since. He definitely _thought_ he was being discrete about the distance that he gave, yet judging by the detached stare and uncomfortable lean, Lance seemed to have noticed. 

Every molecule of Shiro’s being screamed and _begged_ to go and comfort the blue paladin, wrap his arms around his lanky figure and never let go.

And frankly, that thought made Shiro want to put more distance in between them. 

Ever since the _incident_ , he had noticed more and more things about a certain paladin; the light dusting of freckles on his cheeks, the cute dimples he has whenever he smiles, the way his eyes seem to glow in excitement at the wonders of space - not a childish naivety, but a pure admiration at the beauty of space around them.

Shiro can’t help but notice these little details that make his cheeks warm and head fuzzy.

It makes him feel weird. 

The warmth was too foreign.

So when they all got back to the Castle, Hunk and Pidge with arms full worth of spare parts and Keith with more shopping bags than he’d ever held in his life, Shiro's gaze caught on a small item in Lance’s back pocket. 

Abandoning Shiro about ten doboshes after everyone else had left, he didn’t see Lance go into any stores or buy anything at all, which was incredibly weird to the black paladin (Lance’s spending habits rivalled only Allura’s). Yet while disembarking from the cargo pod, a faint gleam from Lance’s back pocket caught his eye. 

A sudden desire to find out what it was burned through his body, to which Shiro tried to blanket the sensation as much as possible. He repressed every strange emotion he felt towards the Lance…

…which led to him falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, and waking up on something warm and very, very fuzzy. 

Wiping the remnants of sleep out of his eyes, Shiro found himself, once again, in a room that wasn’t his own. Unlike last time when he awoke the bare, cold floor, he was lying on a small, makeshift blanket mattress, with a couple of extra blankets and spare pillows on top and surrounding him.

He slept in Lance’s room. Again. 

_Fuck._ Oh god.

_Not again._

_Why did this keep happening?_

Shiro could have sworn he fell asleep in his own room. Was he sleepwalking? Was someone playing a prank on him? He doubted the latter (no one other than Hunk had the strength to move him, and Shiro was dubious that the yellow paladin would do so); the former had never happened in his life.

He had never sleepwalked. Ever! Even though that was the most likely explanation, it made absolutely no sense to him. 

As his eyes adjusted to the inky darkness of the room, Shiro couldn’t see a trace of Lance anywhere. The clock read 0500 standard castle time yet the boy was nowhere to be seen. Even more suspiciously, Lance’s room was weirdly clean - all the clothes on the floor had been out away and beauty products meticulously organised. The only clutter in the room was Lance’s various knick-knacks littering the walls and shelves with assortments of rocks strewn on the floor next to the bathroom.

Lance’s room emitted a homely, familiar vibe that made Shiro feel strangely warm inside. Despite being stranded millions of light-years away from his family on Earth, Lance still managed to make the sterile, bland Altean architecture feel more personal. From the ribbons hung up on the walls to the collection of small Balmeran crystals on his shelves; the photos and selfies of the team plastered around the room to the small picture of his family on the bedside table, Lance had made this room home. 

Shiro observed a fondness grow for a certain blue paladin. Accidentally sleeping on Lance’s bedroom floor felt oddly intimate, though Shiro got a glimpse into the more personal side of Lance. For a moment, he felt at peace. 

Then, faintly, Shiro could hear footsteps vibrating with greater and greater intensity. 

He had to get out of Lance’s room.

_Now._

  
Jolting out of the cocoon of blankets, Shiro rushed out of the room. As he turned the corner of the corridor, he heard Lance humming as the boy walked through the very same hallway Shiro had been in a moment prior.

_Close call._

It was only when Shiro had arrived back at his own room, did he realise the small silver chain with a black and blue gemstone wrapped around his hand.

-

The third and final time was, in Shiro’s opinion, was absolutely horrifying.

Conscious trickled back to him ever so slowly, the haziness and lucid-like state Shiro resided in was enough to keep him from waking up. His bed, usually so rigid and stiff, seemed to have transformed into the comfiest thing he’d ever slept on. Plus the mountains of blankets and pillows that encompassed him like a nest only added to the slumberful bliss the black paladin was in. He’d never remembered feeling so… safe. So comfortable. Hell, he never remembered picking up that many bed accessories ever, yet that thought was swept away by the cloudy unawareness the warm bed provided.

Shiro vaguely noticed a mass wrapped between his arms, its body heat radiating into his torso. He wrapped his hands around the thing tighter, his sleep-addled mind wanting to savour every last drop of the warmth for himself. It felt like hugging a heated body pillow, though Shiro was sure he’d never taken his old body pillows into space lest the Holt’s judgements (though he knew for a fact Matt went through a bigger anime phase than he did). 

Somewhere in the distance, a faint alarm rang through the walls. Shiro groaned, not wanting to wake up too soon and too intent on basking in the bed’s snugness. Beneath his arms, the mass wriggled slightly in the soft grip, before turning over and placing its head in the middle of Shiro’s chest. The figure let out a small ‘ _ngh’_ of content and Shiro wrapped his hands tighter around it. 

Both Shiro and the figure opened their eyes at the same time, holding a soft, still tired stare for a few moments.

  
Then, it clicked. 

“Ahh!” The figure yelped, jerking back and hitting their head on the wall. At the same time, Shiro pushed himself away from them and fell ass-first onto the cold ground, legs still wrapped around the blanket. Blinking rapidly, Shiro’s eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness of the room. 

Gripping his blankets with one hand and cautiously rubbing his head with the other, the definitive figure of Lance could be seen. Even in the dark, he could see that Lance was blushing furiously and judging by the warmth from his cheeks, he was doing the exact same.

“What the— Holy shi… How did you get in my bed? _Were you spooning me?!”_

Shiro cringed at the shrillness of Lance’s voice, the tone too high of an octave for so early in the morning.

“I-I don’t know! Why am I in your room?!” _And why am I the big spoon?_ was left unsaid. 

_”You tell me!”_ Lance let go of the blanket to gesture wildly with his hands, exposing his completely bare body sans a pair of blue lion boxers. If he wasn’t already blushing, Shiro sure as hell was now. Trying to preserve Lance’s modesty as much as possible, Shiro averted his gaze to anywhere that wasn’t below the blue paladin’s collarbone. Lance didn’t _seem_ angry at him, more so embarrassed.

“Look-“ Shiro said as he attempted to stand up, yet was pulled down by the blanket still wrapped around his legs “-I have no idea how or why I’m here. In your bed. With you.”

_Quiznak_ , this was so awkward. Was he even wearing any pyjamas? A quick look down and a huge sigh of relief confirmed that he still had something on (and even though they were the smallest boxers he’d ever donned, at least it was _something_ )

  
  
_(Another intrusive thought commented how good Lance looked shirtless. Shiro tried to ignore that thought)._

Lance didn’t respond, though his breathing was loud and heavy. The younger paladin looked absolutely mortified, with wide eyes and pupils were so blown that the dark blues of his iris was barely visible. He didn’t think Lance would say anything until the Cuban boy muttered more meekly than he’d ever heard before, “did we fuck?”

_“Language!_ And no!“

Shiro had to remind himself not to yell at the top of his lungs; he didn’t wish to awaken another paladin and face their ire (especially Katie’s). Lance went completely still for a second, before breaking out into laughter. 

“Of course- of course, you’d correct my language first.” The boy managed to say between barks of laughter. “Classic Shiro move.”

_Wait a minute,_ something just didn’t add up. From what Shiro had seen in Lance’s behaviour and mannerisms the past few months that while he was nothing short of touchy-feely with _some_ inhabitants of the Castle (read: Hunk), Lance was never that stage of playfully-invading-personal-space with most of the other paladins, namely Keith and, well, himself. And though Lance had cat-like levels of artfully draping himself over a select few, he hadn’t quite reached that stage with the black paladin. 

So why was he so nonchalant about this whole ordeal? 

Shiro had grossly invaded Lance’s private space, practically _spooned_ him in his sleep, yet Lance seemed nothing more than amused and highly embarrassed. 

“Has- has this happened before?”

“What, you mean straddling me in my sleep?” Lance grinned, though his smirk was wiped off by the glowering stare Shiro gave him. “Geez, tough crowd. Well, not like this, though you have a habit to, um…”

“Yeah?” Shiro prompted, his stomach bottoming out. With every word Lance says, the black paladin felt guiltier and guiltier. Shiro couldn't explain why, yet he felt so guilty. He may have been solidly over six foot, but Lance was a beanpole compared to Shiro’s broader, wider frame. To put it simply, he had both height and weight on the blue paladin, _and_ a position of authority over him too. 

What if Lance felt coerced, forced into this awkward situation because of Shiro’s status? The thought chilled Shiro to the core. 

“You kind of tend to sleepwalk into my room..?” Lance voiced it more like a question than an answer. Shiro must have had some physical reaction, as the other boy started to wave his hands around again. “No no no, It’s not bad! Don’t worry! It’s just, one day you came into my room and you were like, _totally_ out of it. Then you collapsed on my floor, I guess.” As he talked, a sheepish expression creeps onto Lance’s face. “Look, I know you don’t sleep well at night, _and don’t you lie to me about that,_ and you seemed to be well-rested after that! So, well,” he rubbed the back of his neck, glancing guiltily at the floor, “you kinda sleep in my room some nights. That’s why I have a bunch of blankets on the floor.” 

Shiro stared dumbfounded at Lance, the information he’d just received taking too long to process. 

“God, Lance. I’m so sorry.” Shiro said. “This is completely inappropriate of me. This won’t happen again, I assure you.”

Face falling, Lance looked almost… disappointed?

“Dude, seriously, it’s no biggie. Everyone needs sleep, and you’re a better leader with a full eight hours. And, well,” another ruby red blush creeps up the Cuban boy’s face, “I don’t _mind_ you sleeping in here.”

His revelation comes at a surprise to Shiro, who doesn’t add to the conversation other than a rather dumb “huh?”

“I’m used to it, y’know? I’ve basically shared a room my entire life, first with my siblings Rachel and Marco, and then with Hunk.”

And then, almost too quiet for Shiro to hear, Lance muttered, _”it’s too quiet here”_

Shiro vaguely remembered Lance talking about his family back on Earth. If he remembered correctly, the blue paladin was the youngest of five and an absolute mama’s boy judging by his stories. He certainly couldn’t relate to the younger paladin, yet the emotional distance he had with his own parents didn’t stop Shiro from enjoying Lance’s childhood tales of cliff jumping and days full of surfing and swimming.   
  


He had never really stepped back and considered that Lance was struggling with the change. 

Lance, the definition of a social butterfly who thrived off interactions and personal intimacy and never lived longer than a day of his life before space separated from friends or family in close quarters, wasn’t at all put-off by Shiro’s intrusion. In fact, he almost seemed to like it?

“Well you’re not saying much, but I just want to put it out there that I don’t mind you chilling in my room. Or bed, to be honest. It was nice seeing you so peaceful for once, and well-rested too.”

The more Shiro thought about it, the more he had a point. He _did_ sleep better in Lance’s room. Hell, the best sleep he’d gotten since his capture at the hands of the Galran Empire happened when he accidentally spooned with Lance. 

“I don’t want to intrude-“

“Nuh-uh, don’t give me that.” Lance cut him off “If I can get some shut-eye with the entirety of the McClain-Serrano family in one room, you sure as hell won’t bother me.”

“Are you sure..?” Shiro asked one final time, uncertainty still gnawing away at his stomach.

“Totally. Why not? The bed is big enough for both of us. Obviously, the Alteans made king-sized space beds for a reason.”

Lance gave his signature, starshine grin - the one that always made Shiro’s knees weak - and all his apprehension melted away. 

“Come’ere, big guy. We still have three more hours until Allura will spring another ‘surprise’ training drill, and I’m tired.” Lance gestured towards the bed, to which Shiro raised an eyebrow. Another few hours of sleep wouldn’t hurt, right? Usually, Shiro would have just hit the training room and abandoned any hopes of getting back to sleep, yet Lance’s bed looked so _inviting._ Truth be told, he was too tired to even consider another option. 

And so in all his awkward pride and glory, Shiro sat up from the floor and walked back over to the bed.

“Hey, Lance,” The black paladin murmured as he slipped back under the sheets “that black bracelet that appeared on me after we got back from the swap moon. You got it for me, right?”

Lance didn’t answer at once. Instead, the teen wrapped his lanky limbs around Shiro’s back, pressing his chest close to the black paladin. He leaned over, and Shiro could feel Lance’s hot breath on his face as he whispered in his ear. 

“Maybe.” Lance grinned, before elaborating. “It was supposed to be a surprise or something, but then I saw you on my floor and you had this cute little expression on your face so I may have given it… prematurely.” 

Shiro smiled at Lance.

“I _love_ it.” he whispers back.

-

  
  
“How did you know about Allura’s training?”

“The mice told me.”

And Shiro laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked me switching from present to past tense because what the fuck are tenses!
> 
> So I had no idea Shance was a thing until I joined the fandom and since canon is dead they’re a pretty cute ship in my eyes! I was never really involved in anything so idk about any drama surround this ship but I honestly don’t really care! Reality is a curse so I hope you've enjoyed my attempt at this couple.
> 
> Another thing, I've really only written Lance's POV in the past so it was great to write Shiro for once! He's honestly such an interesting character to write so I hope I've done him service.
> 
> Other than that, thank you for reading this fic! If you like it, check out my other fic on my account, my Tumblr at @ashkazora, and leave a comment if you have any feedback! I love chatting about all things VLD or any other fandom, so if you do ever want to ramble don't be afraid to hmu on my Tumblr!


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